Charleston City Councilman Bernard Slater Jr. was arrested early Friday and charged with second-offense driving under the influence and driving on a revoked license.
Charleston police pulled the councilman over on Washington Street East. He was being held in South Central Regional Jail on a $6,000 bail.
Slater's criminal history, including three previous arrests on DUI charges, was an issue during his campaign for the City Council last year. Slater told a reporter at the time that he used to struggle with a substance abuse problem but that his "history is not relevant now that I have gave my life to Christ."
After his election, police allegedly found text messages from Slater to a man charged with murder for providing heroin to a woman who later died. City officials said then that they didn't plan to try to remove Slater from office.
On Friday, Senior Patrolman J.A. Jones wrote in a criminal complaint filed in Kanawha County Magistrate Court that he saw Slater, who was driving a red Pontiac G6, going "well below" the posted speed limit at 3:30 a.m. The vehicle also didn't have a working third brake light, according to the complaint.
Slater's eyes were glassy and bloodshot and his speech was slurred, Jones wrote.
When the patrolman asked, Slater handed over his insurance and vehicle registration. As he did, Jones wrote, Slater's "head and hat he was wearing struck the inside roof of the vehicle."
The councilman allegedly said he didn't have his driver's license with him, but that it was valid.
After talking with Kanawha Metro 911 dispatchers, Jones said, he learned that Slater's driver's license is revoked because of two DUI convictions, in 2010 and in 2013. Slater also has been convicted twice of driving while his license was revoked for DUI, Jones wrote in the complaint.
"I asked Slater to step out of the vehicle, which he did," Jones wrote. "As I began to ask him to begin the three standardized field sobriety tests, Slater then stated he was advised by 'Carter and Dave' to not do the field sobriety test. I ask several times if Slater wished to attempt the field sobriety tests and his only answer was that 'Carter and Dave' told him not to take them."
"Carter and Dave" is an apparent reference to local lawyers Carter Zerbe and David Pence, who have represented Slater in the past.
Kanawha Magistrate Kim Aaron set Slater's bail at $6,000 Friday morning. At 1:30 p.m., he was still in jail.
Slater, a Democrat, was elected to the Ward 1 council seat last year. He defeated former councilman Pat Jones by two votes in the primary, and then got 150 votes against 97 votes for write-in candidates in the general election.
In 2009, Slater was charged with DUI and possession of a controlled substance. A criminal complaint stated that Slater was found slumped over in his car in the parking lot of Southmoor Apartments. Police found a Xanax pill in his car, and he allegedly said he didn't have a prescription for it. Those charges, all misdemeanors, were dismissed as part of a deal with prosecutors.
In 2010, Slater was charged with another DUI after a car crash on Interstate 64/77, near the Greenbrier Street exit in Charleston. He also was charged with having no proof of insurance and driving with his license revoked because of his previous DUI. Slater pleaded guilty to DUI and driving with a suspended license. The insurance charge was dropped as part of his plea, according to court documents.
Later that year, Slater was charged with felony burglary and misdemeanor destruction of property. He allegedly kicked in a basement door to retrieve a wireless Internet card that Slater was letting the homeowner's father borrow. The felony burglary charge was dismissed, court records show.
Slater also was charged with DUI in 2013, after a police officer stopped him on Quarrier Street near the Elk River. The officer said Slater's vehicle was straddling the white dotted line. He again was charged with driving on a suspended license. That charge was dismissed, and Slater paid a $100 fine for the DUI.
The councilman also has faced charges of domestic violence, child neglect and others.
Slater previously has said he believes his record makes him "stronger and more experienced to deal with the people of my ward.
"I can relate to almost everyone who lives here because of the situations that have happened in my life," he said. "I am not ashamed of my past. Everyone has one and mine was not pretty, but my future will be bright."
Last fall, police said they were investigating the councilman in connection to a fatal overdose in Charleston. Police said they found text messages from Slater in Steven Coleman's cellphone, according to an affidavit used by police to obtain a search warrant. Coleman is charged with felony murder in the overdose death of Melody Ann Oxley.
The councilman was attempting to buy prescription medication from Coleman, police wrote.
"At one point the murder was discussed and Slater offered to be a witness for Coleman by falsely testifying that he was present during the overdose," police wrote in the affidavit.
According to the charge against Coleman, Oxley was found dead on Feb. 14 in a bedroom at a house Coleman shares with his father, Steve Slater, on Charleston's West Side. Coleman and Bernard Slater are cousins.
No charges have been filed against the councilman in connection to the overdose.
After Slater was involved in the Coleman investigation, Mayor Danny Jones said city officials didn't plan to seek Slater's removal from the City Council. Jones reiterated that position Friday, but noted that if Slater is jailed and misses a number of council meetings, the city would then have cause to remove him.
Staff writer Elaina Sauber contributed to this report. Reach Kate White at kate.white@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-1723 or follow @KateLWhite on Twitter.